There Will Always Be Demigods
by Team Leo and Nico
Summary: It's been 13 years since the war against Gaea and now there's a new generation of demigods. Follow Emma, Bailey and Theo they they venture past the safety of camp into the dangers of the mortal world.
1. The Quest Begins

**Emma **

I stood atop of the hill looking down at camp half-blood. To the two other campers I was standing with I seemed calm and collected. On the inside I was freaking out.

Three hours ago Chiron had told me that Rachel Dare had given a prophecy to Bailey Dowzell, Mr D's thirteen year old son. He then told me that he required a child of Apollo and a child of Athena to accompany him on the quest. I was the child of Athena. At first I was excited, I had wanted to go on a quest since I had arrived at camp four years ago. But then I remembered that the last campers that went on a quest never came back and that was nearly a whole year ago. If I'm honest thinking about the previous campers scared me, what if the same thing happened to us.

I turned to look at the two boys standing with me. We were a strange trio for a quest. Theo Mendoza was a son of Apollo and one of the nicest people at camp half-blood; he got along with everyone even the kids from the Ares cabin. He had been at camp for almost eight years and according to Chiron he was one of the best archers the camp had had in a long time. He looked like a Latino god with his dark wavy hair and golden eyes that shone like the sun, literally.

Bailey on the other hand was a different story. He had only been at camp about a year (he was an all year round camper) and kept himself to himself. He joined in with training but never capture the flag and anytime someone did talk to him he always answered very carefully, almost like he thought they would start beating him up if he said the wrong thing. He wasn't particularly tall for his age and had messy dusty blond hair and deep purple eyes. He was very skinny meaning his camp T-shirt looked like it was two sizes too big. Mr D was also very protective over him; his son's name was the only one that the god actually got right.

"We should get going." Theo said as he started to walk down the hill towards Argus and the car. Bailey followed him but I didn't move. I didn't want to say goodbye to camp. I knew I was being silly, Chiron wouldn't have sent me on the quest if he didn't think I was capable. But still, not knowing what the prophecy actually said made me nervous.

"Emma, you coming or not?" Theo shouted to me. I looked to see him and Bailey standing by the car. Theo had a massive grin on his face like this quest was the best thing that had ever happened to him. Bailey on the other hand was looking at the ground like the grass was the most interesting thing on the planet.

I sighed and put all the scared thoughts to the back of my head. "Yeah," I said my excitement starting to come back. "Let's do this quest." The three of us and Argus climbed into the car and set off on the start of our journey.

By the time we reached New York it was dark but it didn't mean the streets were any less busy. I wondered where Argus was taking us; we drove through the whole city and were now driving down a road in the middle of nowhere. When we finally stopped it was almost midnight and we were still in the middle of nowhere.

"Where are we?" Theo asked Argus as we climbed out of the car. He didn't say anything and drove of leaving us with no clue as to what to do next.

We all stood in silence looking around looking for any clue as to where we were.

"So what do we do now?" Theo finally said.

I was about to say we should set up a camp for the night but then we heard something roar behind us. It was so loud it shook the trees. We all turned round to the direction it had come from, I could hear something very large and very angry running towards up.

"I think the best thing to do right now would be to run," I said.

"Agreed," Theo said. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Bailey nod.

The three of us ran into the forest that stood on each side of the road. We were just inside the tree line when I glanced back only to see the Minotaur burst through the trees on the other side of the road.


	2. The Greek Fire Arrow

**Theo**  
I can't say I wasn't scared of the Minotaur that was chasing us, because I was. It was huge and looked like it was in the mood to kill a few demigods.

We ran at full speed through the forest trying to lose the monster but it was no use. It had seen us and wasn't going to stop until all three of us were dead. It didn't matter how many times we changed direction, we were going to have to fight it.

I turned to look at Emma who was running a little behind me, hoping she had a plan. I knew she would come up with a plan, she was the smartest girl at camp, I just hoped that she wouldn't take too long. The Minotaur was catching up fast.

We continued running for another minute or so before Emma screamed "I know what to do!"

"What?" I yelled back at her.

"I don't suppose you have any Greek fire arrows available, do you?" she asked me.

I almost wanted to laugh; of course I had Greek fire arrows available, I had every type of arrow available. I reached into my quiver, a gift from my father, and pulled out a celestial bronze tipped arrow. Everyone knew of Leo Valdez's tool bet, well my quiver worked in the same way. It looked like a normal arrow but it wasn't. Inside the tip of the arrow was the dangerous green liquid of Greek fire, when a monster was hit with an arrow like that they had no chance.

When Emma saw the arrow she told us her plan. It was a simple one but if I messed up then we were all dead. The plan was that Emma and Bailey would keep the Minotaur distracted whilst I shot it with my arrow. Emma said I need to aim for the neck it was the monster's weakest point.

We set the plan in motion straight away. I veered off to the left whilst Emma and Bailey discussed how they were going to distract the Minotaur. I hid behind a tree and watched as the two of them stopped running when they entered a clearing, and turned to face the direction they had just come.

I could hear the Minotaur as it got closer, it wasn't running anymore, it was walking, stalking its prey.

I mounted my bow and arrow whilst I waited for then monster to enter the clearing. I didn't have to wait long, although the Minotaur was walking its steps were huge, I reached Emma and Bailey in less than a minute.

From my hiding place I saw Emma draw her dagger from its holder. Bailey drew his sword also, the small skinny boy looked very strange with the weapon in his hands, I was certain the sword weighed more than he did.

As soon as the Minotaur entered the clearing Emma and Bailey ran at it slashing at its legs. They weren't doing much damage, they were only really annoying the monster. It swung it arms around trying to knock the two of them over but the both kept dodging.

Knowing that the monster would now not pay me any attention I crept up behind it and levelled my arrow so it was aimed at its neck. I was about to shoot when I heard Emma scream. The Minotaur had knocked Emma down, I could see her slumped against a tree barely conscious. Bailey obviously didn't know whether to go to Emma or continue attacking the beast. He took too long to decide and in his momentary distraction the Minotaur grabbed him round the waist and lifted him of the ground.  
_  
This isn't good_, I thought to myself. I couldn't shoot my arrow at the Minotaur now because it would probably kill Bailey as well. I had to think quickly, I could see that Bailey was getting crushed by the large hand that was wrapped around him. He had dropped his sword so all he could do was try not to throw up as the Minotaur shook him about.

I racked my brain for an idea but I had no clue what to do. I looked over to Emma who was now propped up against the trunk of the tree. She had a trickle of blood running down the side of her face but she look conscious enough. She looked at me then pointed to her hand.

Suddenly, I had my light bulb moment and I knew what to do.

I swapped my Greek fire arrow for just a regular celestial bronze arrow and tried to aim it at the Minotaur's hand. But I couldn't because it kept moving. This was a nightmare, Bailey was about to get crushed to death and then Emma and I would follow.

I kept trying to aim my arrow but it wasn't working. I was just about to take a random shot and hope for the best when the Minotaur suddenly stopped, it just froze and was looking at Bailey, its head tilted to the side.

I didn't understand what was happening but I didn't wait to see what would happen next. I took my shot and the arrow flew straight into the large hand that was crushing Bailey. The Minotaur roared and released Bailey who fell to the ground landing on his sword.

Not wasting any time, I quickly mounted my Greek fire arrow again and shot at the monsters neck. Emma was worried the Minotaur might move. I wasn't. The arrows were made by the Hephaestus campers meaning not only did they contain the most deadly fire know to demigod, they also flew at breakneck speed.

It was over so quickly the Minotaur didn't even have time to turn his head, as soon as the arrow hit it exploded in and eruption of green flames. In less than a second there was nothing left but a pile of gold dust that was sinking slowly into the ground.


	3. The Bag of Bones

**Bailey**

I tried to ignore the pain in my left leg as I limped over to Theo and Emma. When the Minotaur had dropped me I landed on my sword and in the process cut my leg. It wasn't that bad, nothing a little nectar or ambrosia couldn't fix, but after invading the mind of the Minotaur I was already weak and the cut leg just made it worse.

I carefully sat down next to Theo who was rummaging in Emma's backpack obviously looking for some nectar for her. She had fallen unconscious and had a large cut on her forehead from where she had hit the tree.

Theo found the nectar and cheered in delight. He fed it to her and then began singing the healing song every Apollo kid knew. I myself took a small bite of ambrosia and started to feel better straight away. The cut was nearly gone when Emma woke up; all that was left was the slice in my trousers.

When the wound on Emma's head was no longer visible Theo helped her to her feet. "Are you okay to walk?" he asked her.

She said she was, but she was still pale and stumbled every few steps. She still carried on, dagger out in front of her in case we ran into anymore monsters that night. Theo walked besides her making sure she didn't fall over when she stumbled.

I picked up my sword and stared at the pair of them as they walked back the way we came. It was obvious neither of them really cared about me, I could tell that by the fact that neither of them bothered to ask if I was okay. I don't know why I expected any different though, in my whole life not one person has properly cared about me, not even my mum.

I pushed that thought to the back of my head as I started to follow Emma and Theo. My mum was dead, I didn't matter that she was the world's worst mum because she wasn't anymore. She's dead and I'm better off without her.

By the time I caught up with Theo and Emma they were already back at the road. It was the same place Argus had dropped us off and nothing had changed. It was still just an empty road in the middle of nowhere.

I had no idea what to do next but I wasn't in the mood to stand around. Without saying a word I started to walk down the road, heading in the direction away from camp. I didn't look back to see if Emma and Theo were following, I knew they would if neither of them came up with a plan. They had to follow me, I was the only one out of the three of us who knew the prophecy; they couldn't continue the quest without me.

We walked for about two hours, and at some point it had stated to rain. We were all cold, tired and hungry but there was nowhere to camp along the road side and after the fight with the Minotaur none of us wanted to venture back into the forest. Silently we all made the same decision to keep going until we came across somewhere that had a roof and walls.

It must have been three in the morning when we finally came across a little shop at the road side. The sign above the door said L's Candy Store, but when I read it the first time I thought it said LS Cady Shore. _Stupid dyslexia._

We stood outside the shop for nearly ten minutes deciding what to do. Not one of us wanted to continue walking but all the lights were off in the shop.

"Maybe we should just knock," Theo finally said after standing in silence for a few more minutes.

"No one's going to be in a candy store at three in the morning," Emma replied.

"They could be if their house is attached to it. Before I came to camp half blood my mom owned a charity store. She, my brother and I lived in a room behind it."

"Okay then Theo, you go and knock," Emma said crossing her arms.

Theo nodded and walked up the porch steps to the door. Emma and I followed but didn't climb the steps. Closer up I could see that there was a doorbell meaning someone probably did live in their sweet shop.

Theo slung his bow over his shoulder and was about to press the doorbell when the lights in the shop suddenly turned on. All three of us took a step back as the door opened and a woman came out and stood on the porch.

The woman was beautiful; she has long golden hair and chocolate coloured eyes. She was wearing a pink silk dressing gown, which reached the floor, tied together with what seemed to be a snake skin.

She looked at us each in turn and smiled when her eyes rested on me. Emma noticed this as well and pushed me behind her, her hand resting on the handle of her dagger.

"Look at you three," the woman kept looking at me as she spoke, "you all look like you could do with some food and good rest. Please come in." The woman took hold of Theo's hand and pulled him to the shop.

I began to follow but Emma put her hand on my chest to stop me. She turned to face me and said. "I don't trust this woman, there's something off about her."

I glanced past Emma into the shop, I could no longer see Theo or the woman but the door was still wide open with light shining out into the rain.

"Listen to me Bailey," Emma continued, "do whatever I say in there, understand." I nodded and the two of us went into the shop.

The pair of us walked straight through the actual shop and went into the back room. The woman was there laying food on the table but there was no sign of Theo.

"Where's Theo?" Emma asked.

"Who?" The woman said in a sickly sweet voice not looking up from the table.

"Theo, our friend, the boy you pulled in here." There was a spitefulness in Emma's voice.

"Oh yes, he has just popped to the bathroom, he'll be back in a minute. Now why don't you two sit down and enjoy the food I have prepared." The woman wandered into what I thought must be the kitchen and left Emma and I alone.

We both sat down at the table but neither on us touched the food. I understood what Emma was talking about outside, there was definitely something strange about the woman. I mean who has dinner prepared at three in the morning.

I looked at Emma who was scanning the room; it seemed she was looking for something. Her eyes fell on an old styled suitcase. Not even checking to see if the woman was coming back Emma went over to the case and opened it. From where I was sat I couldn't see what was inside but it made Emma gasp.

Curious, I got up and went to have a look. I gasped myself when I saw what was inside. Bones, loads of them. Emma picked one up and held it against my arm, it was almost the exact same size.

"Oh no," she said in a whisper.

"What?" I asked her just as quietly.

She looked up at me shocked, probably because I had actually spoken. The initial surprise passed quickly. "These are children's bones," she said still holding one to my arm. "Do you know what this means?"

I shook my head. Not only the suitcase full of child sized bones but the worried look in Emma's eyes was starting to scare me.

"It means that that woman is Lamia," Emma continued, "and if we don't get out of here quickly she'll eat us all."


	4. The Fight for Breakfast

**Emma**

I wanted to run. I wanted to run and not stop running until we were as far away from Lamia as possible. I wanted to run right now. But I couldn't, not without Theo.

I told Bailey to go. Him being the youngest meant that Lamia would probably go after him first. I told him to run a mile down the road and to wait for us. I could tell he didn't want to leave but he said he would do what I say. He was halfway out the door when the woman came back in.

Bailey froze and I silently swore. Lamia was holding a plate of chocolate chip cookies, the smile she had on her face before was gone. She slammed the plate on the table.

"What are you doing?" she asked Bailey.

"I was... um... going to the loo." Bailey stammered. I was still a little shocked by his accent. When he first spoke I couldn't really hear it but now I could. His British accent was as clear as daylight.

"But your friend is using the bathroom at the moment," the smile was back on Lamia's face as she walked over to Bailey. "You'll just have to wait until he gets back."

She put her hands on his shoulders and was about to guide him over to the table when she laid her eyes on me. The smile fell from her face when she looked down at my hand. Too late I realised that I was still holding the bone. I quickly dropped it and pulled out my dagger.

Lamia didn't do anything. She just stood there staring at me with a blank look. She must have known we knew who she was so I didn't understand why she wasn't doing anything. She was just standing there with her hands on Bailey's shoulders.

We stood there staring at each other for nearly two minutes before Lamia moved. She didn't attack or try to kill us; she just turned Bailey round to face her and pushed his hair off his face. She started to stroke his cheek with her thumb and whispered, "such a handsome boy." Bailey tried to pull away but Lamia just grabbed his wrist.

Suddenly the whole room went cold. I raised my dagger and took a step towards Lamia. She didn't notice, she was too busy struggling with Bailey. The kind expression she had before was gone and had been replaced with frustration. She didn't normally have prey that fought against her.

"Let go," Bailey yelled trying to pull away from Lamia's vice like grip.

"I haven't had a meal in months," she replied her voice now harsh and raspy. "Demigods never taste as nice as mortal children but I'm hungry so you, boy, will do. If I'm lucky you'll be sweeter than some of the other half-bloods if have eaten, with your father being Dionysus and all."

I slowly edged my way towards the pair as they struggled. As I got closer Lamia suddenly got stronger and pulled Bailey close to her. She grabbed his face and leaned down so she was eye to eye with him. She whispered something to him that I didn't hear and quickly spun him round so he was in a position where his neck was exposed. I saw a knife drop from the sleeve of Lamia's bathrobe. She was going to slice his throat.

I didn't have time to come up with a plan. Without even thinking about it I ran at Lamia and stabbed her in the arm. The shock of it made her release Bailey. As she screamed out in pain I judo kicked her, making her fall and drop her knife.

"Go! Run Bailey!" I screamed, "you're the one she's after, Go!"

The British boy didn't hesitate. He quickly got up and ran out of the door. I didn't watch to make sure he had done what I told him earlier, I was too busy with Lamia. She was already on her feet, knife in hand, with an evil grin on her face. I lunged at her but she was fast, she dodged out of the way and tried to slice me. However I was also fast, she missed by a mile. We kept at this game of lunge and dodge for what felt like hours but it could only have been a few minutes.

I could tell Lamia was getting tired when she said. "Give up girl. You know I will defeat you in the end. And then you will be my breakfast."

"Sorry, demigods are not on the menu."

I lunged at her again. I caught her off guard and was able to stab her in the stomach. I let go of my dagger and backed away as Lamia looked at me. She was about to say something but before she could she burst into dust and sank back into the underworld, where she belonged.

My dagger fell to the floor and so did I. I was exhausted. Two fights in one night was hard work. I sat of the floor for a bit but I knew I had to get up. Even if I felt like falling asleep on the spot, Bailey was out there on his own meaning he was very vulnerable and Theo was... Theo! I had no idea where Theo was. What had Lamia done with him?

I shot up and ran through the door Lamia had come through with the cookies. I found myself in a small kitchen with yellow walls. There was no sight of Theo. I called his name but I got no reply. I called it again, desperate to find him and this time I heard something, a very quiet, slightly muffled yell. I turned to the direction it came from but there was only a plain wall.

"'Theo!" I yelled again just to make sure the noise was coming from the wall. It was. _There must be hidden room_, I thought to myself.

Up close I couldn't see the way to open it but when I looked from farther away I could see it. It was a tiny square that was only just visible. I pushed the square in and the wall slid open. I yelled in delight when I saw Theo. He was tied up and gagged but he looked alright, he was alive, that was the main thing.

I took the gag out of his mouth and gave him a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay," I cried. "I thought she had eaten you or something."

"What?" Theo replied as I untied his hands.

"Basically," I said as I knelt back on my knees, "we just fought a child eating monster called Lamia."

"Oh," Theo looked a little shocked. He rubbed his wrists which were red and obviously sore from the ropes he was tied with. "I'm guessing you didn't get eaten then."

"No but she almost had Bailey for breakfast."

Theo looked around. "Where is Bailey?" he asked.

My heart felt like it stopped for a second. I had found Theo and completely forgotten about Bailey. He was out on the road on his own, anything could attack him. Theo looked just as worried as I felt.

"We've got to go," I said helping Theo up. "I told him to run and now he's out there on his own."

We didn't hang around. Quickly Theo and I found his bow and arrows and ran out the door and down the road hoping Bailey had not got into anymore trouble.


	5. The Nightmare

**Theo**

If getting dragged into a candy store, over powered and tied up in the space of about thirty seconds isn't one way to make you feel completely useless then I don't know what is. Whilst Emma and Bailey were fighting a child eating monster lady, I was tied up in a wall not doing anything except wondering where the light was coming from.

As we walked along the road to find Bailey, Emma told me the whole story. Hearing it made me feel even worse. She had fought Lamia on her own and I did nothing to help.

She could tell I was feeling bad about it because she said, "Hey, don't look so annoyed, you took the Minotaur down by yourself."

"No I didn't," I replied, "if Bailey hadn't done some weird mind thing there was no way I could have done it."

We stopped walking and Emma punched me hard on the arm. "Stop feeling sorry for yourself. We need you on this quest. So what if Lamia over powered you, it would've happened to me if I was the one she grabbed. Without you we would already be dead. So just suck it up and help me find Bailey."

After she said I felt better. I still felt embarrassed but not as useless. I smiled at her and we started down the road again. We walked for nearly thirty minutes before we came across Bailey leaning against a tree which was covered in fresh grape vines. When he saw us he walked away from the tree and all the grapes and vines started to wither and die, Bailey didn't even seem to notice.

"Are you okay?" Emma asked him.

He nodded and said, "what about you?"

Before Emma could even answer I interrupted. "Wait a minute, your British."

"Yes," he replied looking down at the ground.

Emma wouldn't let me ask any more questions. She assured Bailey that we were both alright and then told us that we needed to rest. She said we would have to put up with the forest because none of us really wanted to walk anymore. And we all had the fear that a monster could own the next place we stopped at. Without even discussing it the three of us headed into the forest again. I can't say I was happy about it but I didn't complain.

We didn't walk for long before we stopped and set up camp. It wasn't much, only a self assemble tent the Hephaestus cabin made and some sleeping bags. Emma said she would take the first watch and I didn't argue, I was tired and wanted to sleep.

As soon as my head hit the pillow I started dreaming.

I was eight years old again and back home in the charity shop my mom owned. I was a hot summer's day in Alabama and I was out the back of the store having a water fight with Ethan, my big brother. He was already sixteen at this time but he would always play with me. He would always make sure I was okay, that I had enough to eat and drink even though we were only just getting by with the money mom earned.

The sun was high in the sky when mom called us in for lunch. The two of ran in and sat with her at the table in the tiny kitchen. My mom did this every day when there wasn't school; she would close the store for an hour at lunch and spend the time with her two sons. It didn't matter that some lunches we didn't even have food, it was just nice to spend the time together as a family.

We hadn't been sat at the table long when there was a knock on the door. It wasn't unusual, sometimes mom got customers who didn't see the closed sign. Mom did what she would normally do, get up and kindly explain that they should come back in an hour. However this time, before my mom could say anything, the boy who was at the door stabbed her in the stomach.

Before I could even register what was going on Ethan grabbed my hand and we were running towards the door. Ethan opened it only to find another teenage boy and a girl standing there, blocking our escape. The girl lifted her hand and blew a green dust into my brother's face. His hand went cold and he dropped to the ground, dead.

Overwhelmed by what had just happened to my mom and brother I ran at the girl and started to hit her with my little fists. It didn't do anything but anger the boy stood with her. He grabbed me and held his sword to my throat. He was about to kill me as well when the boy who killed my mother came running into the room.

"Wait!" he yelled, "don't kill him, he's important, we need him." The boy who was yelling was no more than fourteen, and the boy holding me and the girl were only a few years older.

The older boy growled under his breath and pushed me towards the younger boy. "Who put you in charge Alex?" The older boy snapped.

"No one," the younger boy, Alex, replied grabbing my wrist. "But we need this kid, he's powerful."

"I hope your right," the girl said as she walked out the back door. The older boy grunted and followed her.

"Come on kid," Alex said to me, "you're coming with us." He started to pull me towards the door but I wasn't going to go without a fight. I bit the boy on his hand and he yelled out in pain releasing me. As soon as he let go I ran, past my brother, past my mother and out the shop door. I heard the boy swear as I ran away.

I woke up to find my whole body coved in a cold sweat. I hated that dream but unfortunately I had it nearly every night. I hated the fact that I was reminded how my mom and brother died every time I went to sleep.

I sat up in the tent to find it empty. Where were Emma and Bailey? I looked at my watch; it said 9:34am. Had I really been asleep that long? Once again I had left Emma and Bailey to do everything without me.

I started to get ready slowly. It was only when I heard Bailey yell did I speed up. I quickly threw on my camp T-shirt, grabbed my bow and arrows and scrabbled out of the tent.

As soon as I was out I mounted my bow and aimed it in the direction of the yell. I was about to shoot when I saw the cause of Bailey's distress. Emma had pinned him up against the tree and looked like she was about to beat him half to death, she was furious.

Bailey on the other hand looked terrified and flinched anytime Emma made a slight  
movement. I felt sorry for him. He was obviously just starting to trust the two of us and now  
Emma was going to beat him up.

I didn't understand why.

"What's going on?" I asked them as I lowered my bow.

Emma kept her gaze on Bailey. "He won't tell me the prophecy he was given," she said in a tone so angry it made me a little scared.


	6. The Pain and Madness

**Bailey**

I guess I wasn't a very good look out because Emma had crept up on me and I hadn't even noticed. I was just watching out for monsters one second and the next I was pined against a tree with Emma's face only inches from mine.

She pressed hard palms into my shoulders. "What's the prophecy?" she whispered.

I didn't reply; I just stared at her blankly hoping she would think I had gone mute again. It didn't work and she leaned in closer.

"Tell me the prophecy you were given Bailey." It was still a whisper but there was something harsh in her voice.

Again I stayed silent hoping she would just give up. I knew she wouldn't though. My father had told me about Emma before we had left. Emma was the smartest person at camp half blood. She was nice but if she wanted to know something she would go to any lengths to know it. Emma is not someone you want as an enemy.

Getting tired of my lack of answers Emma pushed me hard against the tree again. I cried out as she did and closed my eyes tight. I found myself flinching when she moved her arm. I was being stupid, I knew Emma wasn't going to hurt me but I couldn't help it. Old habits die hard.

I heard Theo stumble out of the tent. He started to talk to Emma, asking what she was doing. I opened my eyes; Emma was no longer focused on me.

"Let him go," Theo said walking over to the two of us. "Can't you see he's scared?"

Emma looked at me again and her face softened, she no longer looked like she wanted to kill me. She sighed and stepped away.

I collapsed to my knees and buried my fingers in the grass. I was shaking and I could hear myself breathing heavily. I was cold, freezing in fact. My already pale hands had turned a ghostly white and grape vines had sprung from the ground and were winding round my wrists. I could feel Emma and Theo's eyes on me, they had no idea what was happening. Neither did I, not really. My father had warned it would happen if someone I trusted turned on me. That's why he told me about Emma.

I tried to control it, but it was hard, giving into it would be easier. Giving into the pain and madness inside my own head. I crumpled onto my side shivering, trying to get control. I could feel the vines slowly wrapping round my ankles as I lay on the ground. It was coming, I could feel it. I was about to black out.  
_  
NO!_ I screamed inside my head, trying to stop it. It wasn't working. I was starting to see things, snippets from my childhood. I was six, I could see my mum standing with her boyfriend, wine glass in hand, looking down at me, laughing. Then I was seven, back at my school in England, mum was yelling at a teacher, I was crying in the corner. I was ten, back with my mum's boyfriend, he was yelling at me, he put the chain round my skinny ankle, he left, I was in darkness. Now I was eleven, in America, with Alex, his sword was at my neck, my hands were tied, he wanted me to use my powers, what powers.

I was only half aware of myself screaming as more and more painful memories came. They were of my mum and her boyfriend and the beatings and the chains in the basement. Then they were of Alex and Lily and Justin. I tried but I couldn't control them, they were over powering me. I tried to do what dad had said to do, focus on the ones you trust. But that was hard considering I didn't have many people that I fully trusted. But I had to try otherwise I would end up insane.

I pictured their faces blocking out the memories of my horrible childhood. There was only the two of them but it seemed to be working, the painful memories were being replaced. I was thirteen, with my dad, he was smiling, the only time I have ever seen him smile, he patted me on the back, he was proud of me. Then I was twelve, there was Thalia and the hunters of Artimes, we were sat at a campfire, she gave me a blanket, she smiled, she put her arm round my skinny shoulders.

Then suddenly it was gone, the pain, the madness, dad, Thalia. It was all gone. The only thing that was left was my mother. It was her fault his had happened. Not mine, not Emma's, not even dads. It was hers; she was the one who had made me like this. It was all her fault and even if she was alive she wouldn't care.

I opened my eyes to see Emma and Theo crouched over me. Their expressions were a mix of worry and fear. Emma eyes were puffy like she had been crying. I tried to sit up but the vines were still wrapped round my wrists and legs. Emma Quickly grabbed her dagger and cut them off me, they withered and died as I sat up.

"Bailey. Oh gods are you okay? I'm so sorry I didn't mean to..." Emma's grey eyes filled with tears. I didn't understand that girl, one minute she was making sure I got away, then she was trying to kill me and now she was crying.

Theo handed me some ambrosia but I turned it away, it couldn't heal me.

I leant against a tree and took a big shaky breath. I was still freezing cold and shaking but the madness had gone from my mind. I said a silent prayer of thanks to my father for helping me through it, even if he didn't know he had.

Theo knelt down beside me. "Are you okay man?" he asked, his golden eyes shining with concern. I nodded but didn't say anything. I was scared if I did I would either scream or start crying.

Theo patted me on the shoulder and went back over to the tent and started to pack it away. My father had told me all about him just like he had with Emma. Theo was the nicest guy at camp but that was because of his past. He felt like he had to protect everyone. He was also very powerful, according to my father, but no one knows the extent of his powers yet. Apparently he's going to be nearly as powerful as Percy Jackson.

I looked over to Emma who was standing with her back to me. From where I was I could tell she was trying not to cry. She thought it was her fault I had had my breakdown. I wasn't, it was my mum's, but she didn't know that.

I slowly got to my feet and walked over to her. "Emma," I said as I stopped behind her.

She spun round wiping the tears from her eyes. "I'm so sorry Bailey," she sniffed.

"It wasn't you fault." I replied.

"Yes it was, if I had-"

I cut her off. "No it wasn't," I said more forcefully.

She didn't reply, she just sniffed wiped another tear away.

She was obviously upset, but there was more, she was scared, she was scared because she didn't know the prophecy. I looked her straight in the eye. I didn't want to tell her the prophecy; if I did it would mean that it was real, that we were on this quest for a reason.

I called Theo over, took a deep breath and began to recite it:  
_  
Madness strikes in the driest storm,_  
_Six days before he shows his true form,_  
_Hand in hand walk the owl and sun,_  
_The dead ones lies will be undone,_  
_With lost friends found at burning rocks,_  
_And beware the curse of Pandora's box._


	7. The Burnt Drachma

**Emma**

I didn't want to attack Bailey. When I did I was screaming at myself to stop. But I couldn't because of the curse; the stupid curse Hermes had put on me to teach me a lesson. The curse of Pandora's Box.

When I heard the last line of the prophecy my heart sank, _Beware the curse of Pandora's box._ I didn't need to be a child of Athena to know who it was referring to. It made so much more sense now as to why Chiron had chose me to go on the quest, he knew about my curse and the prophecy.

The fact that my curse had been mentioned in the curse couldn't mean anything good. When it takes over it is very hard for me to control it. If it got stronger Bailey or Theo or both could end up getting killed. It was a dangerous curse that fed on my curiosity and hope.

It was Theo calling my name that snapped me out of my thoughts and brought me back to the real world.

"Hey are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah you look very pale," Bailey said.

"I'm fine," I lied, forcing a smile so the boys wouldn't worry. I could tell neither of them bought it but there was no way I was going to tell them what was wrong. Instead I just shrugged and finished packing everything away.

It took me over forty five minutes to pack the tent away. It may have been self assemble but the Hephaestus cabin sure didn't make putting it away that easy. Whilst I struggled with the tent the boys did everything else. I could hear them whispering whilst they put out the fire. Well I could hear Theo, Bailey was really just listening to him. I had no doubt they were talking about the prophecy, maybe even about me. I didn't let it weigh on me, if I started to wonder what they were talking about the curse would resurface again. I couldn't let that happen.

By the time the three of us were ready to go it was almost eleven am. We were just about to head back to the road when there was suddenly a sense that there was someone standing behind us.

We all turned around at the same time, weapons drawn, only to see a woman in a light blue dress. She was tall and slim and had a perfect tan. Both her hair and hear eyes were a dark chocolate brown colour. Her feet were bare but she wore and ankle bracelet which had lucky charms hanging off of it. She was smiling at us meaning neither one of us lowered our weapon. The last time a woman had smiled at us it nearly ended with Bailey being served as breakfast.

"Who are you?" Theo demanded levelling his arrow with the woman's head.

"I am Tyche, Goddess of good luck and fortune." As she spoke I felt something wave over me. I suddenly felt like no matter what I did I would win. I had no idea if Theo and Bailey felt the same but they both lowered their weapons. I myself put my knife back in it holder on my belt.

"What do you want?" Bailey asked cautiously. I understood his caution, Tyche was the hardest goddess to find, if she came to you it probably wasn't just to say hi.

The goddess made a motion like she was flipping a coin but there was nothing there. A second after there was a flash in the air and a gold drachma landed in Tyche's palm.

"I'm here to give this to Emma." The goddess extended her palm to me, I took the coin. It was the same size as any other old drachma but one side was burnt.

"What is it?" Theo asked looking at the coin over my shoulder.

"It's a coin of chance," I said without thinking.

"Very clever," Tyche said. "Your right, it's my coin of chance. If you flip it and it lands on the golden side you will be blessed with good luck and fortune. However if it lands on the burnt you will be cursed with bad lack."

"Why are you giving this to me?" I asked staring at the drachma in my hand.

"Quests are like games of chance," the goddess replied, "and there is no doubt you are going to need this coin on this quest."

I looked up at Tyche, there was no longer a smile on her face. "Use it wisely, child of Athena, you can only flip it three times and only at the right time will it land on the side of good luck and fortune."

"How is she meant to know the right time?" Theo asked; I could hear annoyance in his voice. He was obviously not enjoying Tyche's visit.

"She'll know," the goddess answered smiling at me again. "Farewell young heroes."

All three of us knew what was coming next. We all shielded our eyes as the goddess turned into her true form and vanished. When she was gone the boys and I just stood looking at the burnt side of the coin.

"What now?" Theo asked, finally breaking the silence.

"We keep moving," I replied as I put the drachma in my back pocket. "I have a feeling the prophecy said we only had six days so we better get going."

"But we have no idea where to go." Bailey chipped in.

He was right, we had no idea where the lost campers were. Chiron had said he lost contact with them somewhere in the south but he wasn't sure exactly where they were. He also told us they were on a quest to find something but Chiron didn't tell us what.

We spent another few minutes in silence, each one of us trying to figure out what the next step would be. I came up blank which obviously frustrated me. As a child of Athena I liked knowing what to do next and coming up with a plan. I could see that Bailey had no clue what to do either. In the end it was Theo who had an idea.

"Burning rocks," he whispered.

"What?" I asked still annoyed that I wasn't able to come up with a plan.

"Burning rocks," he shouted. "The line _With lost friends found at burning rocks._"

"What about it," Bailey asked.

"Back near my home in Alabama there was this pond that had these strange rocks. Anytime you picked one up it would burn your hand, almost like they were on fire. The place was nicknamed Burning Rocks pond, me and my brother..." He trailed off, obviously thinking about his brother made him sad. I didn't understand why but Theo's eyes that were shining so brightly suddenly dimmed, like a cloud was passing over the sun.

"That's where we should go then," I said trying to hold back my curiosity about Theo and his brother. Neither of the boys said anything back so I assumed we had silently agreed on the plan and headed back into the forest walking in the direction of the road.

Theo and Bailey both followed but I could tell something was troubling them. Theo was looking at the ground as he walked and looked like he was trying to hold back tears. I had a feeling going back home to Alabama was not something Theo wanted to do.


	8. The Sketch Book

**Theo**

I knew burning rocks probably didn't mean the strange rocks from my home town that would just be too obvious. Prophecies weren't that easy, they would say one thing and mean something completely different.

However I had to return to my home, even if I really didn't want to, and the burning rocks gave me an opportunity.

A few days before the quest started my father visited me whilst we were playing capture the flag. I had been tracking a girl from the Iris cabin when I heard music start to play. Being a child of Apollo I was instantly drawn to it and didn't even think twice before following it. When I got to the source I found a golden haired teenage boy playing a lyre.

"Lord Apollo!" I exclaimed when I recognised him. I guess I unknowingly crept up on him because he jumped, drooped his lyre and fell backwards of the rock he was sitting on like a cartoon character.

"Theodoras!" he exclaimed right back at me as he stood up. "I told you last time, call me dad."

"Okay dad," I said crossing my arms, "and I told _you_ last time, it's Theo."

My father shrugged and leant against the tree he was stood next to. He pulled an ipod and headphones out of the pocket of his jeans and started to listen to it.

It was little strange having Apollo as a dad sometimes, mainly because his preferred form was that of a teenager. It was alright when I was younger but now he looked only a year or two older than me.

"So... is there something you wanted?" I asked, curious as to why my father had decided to visit.

"Well," he said pulling out one earphone and walking over to me. "I see you'll be going on a quest soon."

"I will?"

"Yes but that's not what's important."

"It's not?"

"No," my father said putting his hands on my shoulders. He lent down so he was eye to eye with me. "You need to return home." The bright smile was gone from his face, his bright eyes dulled.

"What!" I took a step back. "No, I'm not going back there." I could feel myself shaking, every night I dreamt of the last time I was in my home. I didn't want to have to relive it by going back there.

"Theo," my father's voice was stern. "I know it'll be hard but you don't have a choice. Your mother left you something and you need to see it."

"What?"

"I cannot tell, you but you will find it, I know you will." He left after that but not before telling me to find my light. I had no idea what he meant.

I have only met my father twice, but I have heard many tales about him from other demigods. Apparently he was a cocky, self-centred, flirt of a god who enjoyed talking in haikus. I was also told he was a relaxed and cheerful god who once visited some of my siblings just to listen to them recite poetry. However whenever he visits me he always seems so serious, he never speaks in haikus when coming to see me.

We decided the quickest way to get to Alabama was by train and even that took us ages. We arrived late morning, a day and a half after getting on the first train. According to the prophecy we had six days before he shows his true form, when we reached Alabama we probably only had two or three days left before that happened.

When we got to my old home it was the middle of the afternoon and very warm. Having grown up there I was used to it but Bailey was from England and Emma from North Dakota, I don't think it got as warm as Alabama did there.

My mom's shop didn't look much different from when I last saw it. The only difference was that it looked more run down. The paint on the bright blue door was faded and the big front window was smashed and boarded up.

Without saying a word to Emma and Bailey I jumped over the wall that lead to the back yard and walked over to the back door. Nothing had change; it still looked the same as it did when I was eight, just a little bit sadder. I tried the door but it was locked.

I reached into one of mom's hanging baskets as Emma and Bailey came over to me. I blindly searched through the dead flowers until my fingers felt something smooth and cold. I grabbed hold of it and pulled it out of the dirt.

Without wasting any time I unlocked the door and pushed it open. I was reluctant to go in, it had been eight years since I was last in my house and was where my worst memories were.

"Theo," I heard Emma say behind me, "are you alright?"

I turned you to see her and Bailey looking at me confused. I forgot that neither of them knew what had happened to my mom and brother in this house; they had no idea why I was acting so strange.

I chocked back the lump that had formed in my throat. "Yeah," I replied forcing a smile. "It's just been so long since I was last here it's a little strange you know."

I had a feeling neither of the bought what I had just said but I didn't want to talk about what had happened. Instead I turned round a walked quickly into my old home.

The inside had become even sadder than outside. There was a layer of dust that covered the whole kitchen, the lace drapes that hung in the window were full of holes, the light green wallpaper was peeling of the walls and there was a horrible musty smell that filled the whole house. I didn't bother looking into the store, from the broken window I could tell it had been burgled; all my mom's special little trinkets would be gone. Instead I headed straight to the staircase that lead upstairs.

"Where are you going?" Emma asked before I could start climbing the stairs.

"Up," I replied. "Why?"

"The burning rocks, that's why we're here." Emma's tone was a mix of frustration and concern.

I sighed and walked over to the door which was still open. "Walk through there in as straight a line as possible for five minutes and you should get to them." I pointed at the trees that were at the end of the yard and then walked back over to the stairs.

"Wait, aren't you coming with us?" Bailey asked looking a little confused.

"I've got to check something quickly, I'll catch up with you in a bit." I smiled at them hoping I wasn't worrying them with my strange behaviour.

Bailey didn't seem to want to split up but I could tell that Emma knew I needed to be alone for a bit. She smiled at me sweetly, grabbed Bailey's arm and then pulled him out into the yard.

As soon as the two of them were out of the door I headed up stairs. The house wasn't very big at all with only two rooms downs stairs, the kitchen and store, and three up stairs, the bathroom and two bedrooms.  
I didn't know what I was looking for but according to Apollo my mom had left me something that I needed to see. I checked mine and Ethan's room first and found nothing, although I did pick up the pictures Ethan had of the three of us.

I knew if it wast't in my room it would be in my mom's but it didn't feel right going in. Even though the house only had five rooms I had only ever been in four of them. Ethan had told me that we should never go into mom's room, that she needed a space that was just for her.

When I walked in I wasn't expecting to find the room so empty, all that was in the room was a double bed, a rickety wardrobe and a sketch book. Like down stairs there was a layer of undisturbed dust covering everything.

Without hesitation I picked up the sketch book, I felt sort of drawn to it. I opened it to see the first picture. It was of me but I was about twelve and was standing with a boy and girl who looked a few years older than me. I recognised them straight away,Paige and Riley my best friends for my first four years at camp. Seeing them brought back more painful memories. I didn't understand how my mom could have drawn that before I had even met them.

I flipped the page over and saw another picture, this time it was of Emma, Bailey and I fighting then Minotaur. How could my mom have known we were going to fight it before I even knew I was a demigod?

I turned to the next one, it was of Bailey and me with another boy I didn't recognise. He was about fifteen with dark hair, pale skin and ice blue eyes. The three of us had our weapons drawn and looked like we were about to fight someone.

Suddenly there was a sharp pain in my head and I collapsed to my knees.


	9. The Memories of the Future

**Theo**

The pain was unbearable, I couldn't hear myself screaming but I knew I was.

I closed my eyes but for some reason I could still see the picture. Then I realised it wasn't a picture anymore, it was moving, slowly at first but it quickly sped up. I was watching a battle.

Bailey was fighting a boy of about fifteen who had a back sword, an obvious sign of a child of Hades. Grape vines were shooting out of the ground and attacking the boy but it didn't seem to be helping, the boy would just slice through them with ease and they would collapse to dust.

Suddenly the Hades boy lunged for Bailey but it didn't to anything in the boys favour, Bailey just blocked every attack that came his way. I had no idea Bailey was so good with a sword.

Whilst the pair were fighting I could see vines sprouting out of the ground slowly and quietly. Before the son of Hades knew what was going on a vine had wrapped it self round his ankle and had pulled him over.

I expected Bailey to knock the boys sword away while he was down but he didn't, instead he just stood there. He wasn't doing anything.

Then the fallen boys eyes filled with panic and he started to lift his sword so it was pointed at his chest. Bailey was doing his madness trick he had done to the Minotaur, but this time he was going to have the boy kill himself. I didn't understand, Bailey wouldn't do something like that, would he?

However before the boys could stab himself a red haired girl appeared and grabbed Bailey, placing her knife to his neck.

"Let Haidyn go," she snarled.

The Hades boy, Haidyn, relaxed and dropped his sword.

"Scott!" I heard a girl scream behind me. I spun round to see the dark haired boy fall to the ground clutching his side. There was a taller older guy stood over him with a bloody sword. I didn't need to guess who he had just stabbed.

A girl with dark skin who looked about sixteen ran over followed by a blond haired boy of about twelve. They knelt next to the dark haired boy, they both had tears in their eyes.

Snow stared to fall gently from the sky even though it seemed like summer and the ground froze over, I had a feeling the stabbed boy called Scott was causing that to happen.

Not wanting to watch the boy die, I turned round only to see myself fighting a tanned boy in his twenties with bright blue eyes. He looked familiar but I didn't know where I had seen him from. I had an arrow pointed at his head but it didn't seem to bother him, he still had a cruel smirk on his face.

"Face it Theo," he said, "you've lost." Other Theo didn't reply, instead a bright light stared to come from his hands.

When I saw it the pain in my head returned. It felt like my brain was going to explode.

I opened my eyes and the pain stopped just as fast as it had arrived. I was still in my mom's room, however I was curled up on the floor clutching the picture that I had just seen some to life.

The best conclusion I could come to about what had just happened was that I had just had a vision of the future, it wast't rare for children of Apollo to have that ability. I knew three of my siblings back at camp could get them.

What I didn't understand is why my mum had drawn the pictures. I knew that some mortals where able to seen into the future, Rachel Elizabeth Dare was one of them. Did this mean my mother was as well?

So many questions filled my head but I had no way of answering them. I had obviously found what my mom had left me but why did I need to find it, was there a reason I needed to see the battle I had just witnessed.

My father's words rang in my ears. 'Find you light Theo', I didn't know what he meant when he first said it but now I had more of and idea. Other Theo from the vision had light coming from his hands, did that mean I was able to control light like my father. Was it even possible for children of Apollo to be able to do that, I'd never heard of one before that could.

More and more questions flooded my head making me stressed. I thought about maybe talking to Emma about it, she was more likely to know what it meant than I did. And even if she didn't she was smart enough to help me figure it out.

I was just about to head down stairs and catch up with Emma and Bailey when I heard a crash coming from the kitchen. Someone was in the house. I assumed it was just Emma and Bailey back from the rocks, but then I heard a deep voice swear.

"Let me go!" I heard some else say, I knew it was Bailey, there was no way I could mistake his British accent. My heart jumped when I realised that someone had Bailey.

Quickly I put my mom's sketch book into my back pack and rushed down stairs.

When I got there I found two guys and a girl in their twenties standing in a semicircle around the base of the stairs, they were waiting for me. It struck me straight away that they looked familiar, then I realised they were the ones from my vision. The red haired girl, the tall boy who stabbed Scott and the one with bright blue eyes that I was fighting.

Bright eyes was stood in the middle and had his arm over Bailey shoulder like they were best buddies. I could see Bailey was terrified, his violet eyes were wide with fear and I was pretty sure he was shaking.

"Look at that," bright eyes said, "we're all here." A cruel smile crept onto his face as he squeezed Bailey's shoulder.


	10. The Enemy Arrives

**Bailey**

I wasn't happy about splitting up but there was nothing I could do about that, Emma pulled me out of the house so quickly I didn't have time to argue. Then after walking in the woods for ten minutes and not finding the rocks Emma suggested we split up again. I didn't argue this time either, after what had happened with Emma and the prophecy I was still a little nervous around her.

Once I was on my own I got completely lost and found myself on a street of old abandoned buildings. Having no clue where I was I decided to follow the dusty street and hope I somehow found my way back to Theo's house.

I had only been walking for a few minutes when someone grabbed me from behind and pulled me into one of the alleyways between the buildings. I tried to call out but before I could a large hand clamped over my mouth. It smelt of motor oil and peppermint.

I struggled as much as I could trying desperately to get free but to no avail, the guy holding me was super strong.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone emerge from the shadows. I froze when I saw who they were.  
Alex Holland, son of Ares. He was the one person I never wanted to see again, the one person I was still scared of.

"Bailey Dowzell," he said, an evil smirk on his face, he lent over so his face was only centimetres away from mine. "What a nice surprise."

"Long time no see little man," it was the guy holding me who had spoken. I had figured out who it was as soon I saw Alex, I glanced up to check I was right. I was. Finn O'Dalton, son of Hephaestus and Alex's right hand man.

I couldn't believe it, these two guys had kept me captive for nearly two years. I thought I had seen the last of them when I was rescued by the hunters of Artemis.

Desperate to escape I bit down hard on Finn's hand. It worked, he yelled out in pain and released me. Not wasting any time I ran towards the street as fast as I could. Unfortunately just as I reached the end of the alley way a girl stepped out of the shadows blocking my path.

Lily White, daughter of Aphrodite. Although she might look like just a pretty face she wasn't, she would kill you with out a second thought.

"And where do you think you're going?" She asked pulling the dagger from her belt. My luck was getting worse by the second.

I wasn't going to give up on getting away easily, without even thinking about it I looked straight into Lily's eyes. I was there, inside her head, I could make her go as mad as I wanted but I wasn't going to do that, I just wanted to buy some time.

I concentrated hard, _drop your dagger_ I thought. It was working I heard it clatter to the ground. I was about to get her to step aside and let me go but before I could someone grabbed my arm making me lose my concentration.

I tried to wriggle free but it was no use, Alex was just as strong as Finn.

"Well, it looks like you've learnt some new tricks Bailey," he said gripping my arm tightly, "there's no way you would have done something like that a year ago."

Alex looked like he had just won the lottery, he had a huge grin of his face, then he looked down at Lily who was crouched on the ground holding her head in her hands. Suddenly the smile on his face was gone and Alex pulled me closer to him, he leant down so he was eye to eye with me. "Don't ever pull a stunt like that again or you'll be sorry."

He stood up straight and helped Lily up with the hand he wasn't holding me with. "You alright?" He asked.

Lily nodded, Finn picked up her dagger and handed it to her. She smiled at him kindly and took a deep breath. "Right let's go," she said taking hold of Finn's hand. "We still have another one to grab so let's get going before it gets dark." Without saying another word she walked back into the street pulling Finn along behind her.

Before I could figure out who she was talking about Alex stormed of after them, pulling me along with him.

We only walked for about five minutes before we were back at Theo's house. I didn't wonder who they were after anymore, I was pretty sure it was Theo.

As we got close Alex, who was still holding my arm, stopped and spun me round so I was facing him. "Not a word," he said before following Lily and Finn over to the house.

I didn't even know if Theo was still in the house, but I did know I had to warn him if he was, Finn was already over by the stairs and about to go up when I was pulled into the house. Knowing I had to do something quick I stretched out my hand and concentrated my thoughts to growing grape vines. As soon as I did vines shot out of the ground knocking over and breaking a chair with a loud crash.

Whether Theo was in the house or not it had stopped Finn going up stairs. It had also made Alex very angry. He swore loudly and grabbed me by the hair.

"Let me go!" I yelled. Alex pushed me to the ground hard, he was about to draw his sword when Finn made a shushing sound.

As we did we all heard the sound of the floor creaking above up, Theo was still hear and probably going to come down to see what was going on.

Quicker than I though possible, Alex pulled me up of the ground, put his arm round my shoulder and pulled me over to the stairs where Lily and Finn stood. I could feel myself shaking as we waited.

Less than thirty seconds later Theo came running down them. He froze when he saw us standing there.

"Look at that, we're all here." Alex said squeezing my shoulder tightly.

Theo looked confused and did a double take of the four of us. He didn't say anything.

"What's the matter Theo don't you recognise us?" Alex asked.

Theo looked like he was about to say something but instead he just shook his head.

"What a surprise, I was sure you'd remember the people who killed your family."

Theo's sun like eyes widened in shock, he also looked like he wanted to punch himself for not recognising them straight away. He looked at the ground like he was trying to hold back tears.

It didn't surprise me what Alex had just said, they had killed my mum too, however Theo obviously had a better family than I ever had, their death was probably harder on him than my mum's death ever was on me. Off course I was still upset when my mother had been killed, but I had a feeling Theo would have have been more upset over his mum than I was.

"Ah, so you do remember us," Alex said, he sounded like he was enjoying this. Even though I had seen these guys do many cruel things I still couldn't believe how little it bothered them.

After a few seconds of silence Theo finally spoke. "Let him go," he whispered still looking at the ground.

"What was that?" Alex chuckled.

"I said. Let. Bailey. Go!" Theo was angry now, he was looking Alex right in the eye and I was pretty sure he had no intention of backing down.

Alex didn't reply he just clutched my shoulder tight. Finn and Lily took a step back. Theo was making then nervous, I could tell.

Suddenly a bright light began to glow from Theo's hands. He looked down at them amazed. Finn and Lily took several steps towards the door, Alex took one back taking me with him.

The light from Theo's hands began to glow brighter.

"Alex..." I heard Lily say behind me, she sounded just as shocked and scared as I felt. What was going on with Theo?

"Come on," Finn yelled, I turned to see him and Lily by the back door, they were ready to leave. "He's to dangerous now Alex, we missed our chance eight years ago. Just bring Bailey and let's go."

Alex didn't reply but he was obviously listening to Finn, as he grabbed my wrist and stated to pull me towards the door.

"Theo!" I yelled trying to distract him from his glowing hands. It worked he looked up and grabbed my other wrist.

Either Theo was stronger than I thought or Alex just wasn't expecting it because Theo pulled me away with ease and pushed me behind him.

However the light from his hands was hot and burnt my wrist where he grabbed it. I yelled out in pain which distracted Theo from the others.

I collapsed to the ground clutching my burnt wrist, it hurt more than I thought possible. When Theo saw what had happened the light disappeared and he crouched down next to me.

"Oh gods Bailey, I'm so sorry," Theo said, sounding panicked.

I heard someone laugh, the pain of the burn had made my vision blurry but I was pretty sure it was Alex.  
"Well look at that, it seems like you don't realise how powerful you are yet." Alex, Finn and Lily began to walk towards Theo and I, each of them holding a weapon.

Theo pulled an arrow from his quiver and mounted his bow. He pointed it straight at Alex's head. "Leave before I shot this thing." Theo said, the confidence he had lost before had returned to him.

"You don't have the guts to shoot me," Alex replied, a smile on his face.

"Don't I," Theo said, "it wouldn't be the first time." He pulled the arrow back further like he was ready to let go.

I could tell this shocked Alex, it shocked me. Theo was saying he had killed someone before, that didn't sound right, Theo wasn't the sort of person to kill.

Another wave of pain washed over me, I was sure I was going to pass out. My wrist hurt more than you could imagine. I wasn't really paying attention to what was going on anymore but I heard shouting.

"Stop!" I heard Theo scream.

Then I felt a new pain, I came to a bit and looked down to see Lily's dagger sticking out of my shoulder. She must have thrown it.

I heard myself cry out in pain. My orange camp T-shirt was slowly turning red. I stared to feel light headed. I heard a crash and more shouting but soon it stopped and everything went black.


	11. The Flip of a Coin

**Emma**

I knew quests weren't easy, there were always stories at camp about them going wrong. But this one was just going from bad to worse.

After Bailey and I split up it took me all of about ten seconds to get lost. I then spent the next twenty minutes wandering around, getting frustrated that I had no clue where I was going. If I hadn't run into four of the hunters of Artemis, who knows how long I could have been walking round lost in the forest.

I didn't know why the four of them where in the forest and I didn't get a chance to ask, the second they saw me Thalia, their lieutenant, ordered me to come with them.

"Why?" I asked as they ran past me.

Thalia signalled for the other girls to go on ahead before she turned to look at me, her eyes fierce. "Bailey and the other boy you're with are in trouble," she said quickly before running after the other hunters. I followed her, not even having to think about it. I had to help the boys.

It took us less than five minutes to get back to Theo's house. Thalia motioned us to be quiet before we crept towards the back door.

I had no clue what was going on inside but a bright light was coming from the windows and I could hear shouting. Then I heard someone cry out and the light died down. When we reached the side of the house I looked in through the window to see what was happening.

However I chose the wrong time to look. The first thing I saw was a red haired girl in her twenties pull out a dagger and throw it. It landed in Bailey's shoulder who was slumped next to the door leading to the store, cradling his wrist which was burnt badly.

Theo didn't waste any time, he released the arrow he had mounted in the direction of the girl. But she was fast and was able to dodge out of the way. Unfortunately for Theo a bow and arrows weren't for close combat.

"Now," Thalia whispered. Without warning Thalia and two other hunter stood up, kicked the door down and ran into the kitchen.

"Come with me," the hunter who stayed with me, Georgia her name was, said. I didn't want to go with her, I wanted to help Theo and Bailey, but I didn't have a choice, she grabbed my arm and pulled me to the front of the house.

When we got there Georgia didn't even check to see if the door was locked, she just went straight to picking the lock.

I understood why we were going in this way, Bailey was near the door that lead from the store to the kitchen, by going in this way it would be easier to get to him and then get him out.

It took Georgia seconds to unlock the door. However when she opened it I wasn't expecting to find two teenage boys standing there, swords raised, smiling at us.

Except for the fact that both boys looked about fourteen or fifteen and had an evil smirk on their face, nothing about them was the same. One was Latino with dark hair and eyes. He was the taller of the two and held a black sword in his left hand. He was a son of Hades. The other boy had lightly tanned skin and golden brown hair. It was his eyes that struck me most of all, they were unnaturally bright green.

Next to me Georgia cursed and pulled the dagger from her belt, I did the same. Obviously if we wanted to get to Bailey we had to go through these two first.

The Hades boy made the first move, he leaped through the doorway and slammed his sword down. If I hadn't have been quick blocking him with my dagger he might have killed me. The green eyed boy went for Georgia.

As we fought I could hear the mini battle going on in the kitchen. I was desperate to go in there and help Theo fight off the others. I wanted to know if Bailey was alive, when I saw him through the window he was losing a lot of blood.

Suddenly I heard Theo shout and seconds later the tall tanned boy with bright blue eyes ran out the front door with Bailey, held limply in his arms. The red headed girl and tall boy followed after him. Their appearance was enough to distract me, the Latino boy I was fighting knocked my dagger away and pointed his sword at my throat. I glanced to my right to see that the green eyed boy had Georgia in the same position.

Unable to move all I could do was watch as Bailey was carried away. Where were Theo and Thalia and the other two hunters?

"Justin, Haidyn, come on!" the older, taller boy yelled as he ran towards a chariot and Pegasus at the end of the street. How had I not noticed that before?

"Don't even try to follow us or he gets it," the Hades boy warned before both boys obeyed and ran off towards the trio who had Bailey.

"Emma!" I heard Theo cry behind me, I turned round to see him stood in the door way, leaning against the frame. His hand was clutched to his side and there was blood coming from between his fingers.

"Oh gods Theo are you alright?" I ran over to him trying to assess how bad the wound was.

"Don't worry about me," he replied his voice raspy. "Your coin. Use your coin."

I hadn't forgotten about the coin of chance that Tyche had given me, however I didn't want to use it. The idea of flipping it terrified me, I didn't know what was going to happen when I did. "But what if it isn't the right time?" I asked worried.

"What does it matter?" Theo spluttered as he began to cough. "It's the only chance at the moment we have of saving Bailey." Theo fell to his knees weakening from his wound. He began to cough more violently and when I saw the blood on his lips I began to panic.

"Georgia! Thalia" I yelled hoping one of them would come and help.

"Flip the coi-" before he could finish his sentence Theo began coughing up blood again. Luckily Thalia and Georgia both came to my aid.

"Help him will you" I pleaded, fiddling with the coin in my hands. "I have to do something quick." Thalia and Georgia nodded and helped Theo back into the house.

I turned back round to see the group that had Bailey were about to take off in the chariot. Even though I was scared I didn't waste any time. I positioned the coin on my fingers and tossed it into the air. I watched it spin three times, burnt to gold to burnt, before it landed on my palm.

It was the golden side, I sighed in relief but nothing happened. Starting to panic I began to run towards the chariot hoping that maybe I had to do something to get the good luck to kick in. But it didn't work, the Pegasus flew off with the chariot and Bailey before I could get to it.

It had failed, the coin didn't work and now Bailey was gone and Theo was pretty much dying. Remembering Theo, I sprinted back to the house.

"Is he alright?" I cried crashing into the kitchen.

Georgia and the other two hunters stayed tending Theo as I came in but Thalia stood up to talk to me. "He's fine," she said, "he's lucky, we got to him quite late the nectar shouldn't have worked."

Lucky!

Before I could thank Thalia, Theo groaned and sat up. The hunters had cut his T-shirt down the middle so they could tend to the wound, meaning as he sat up I could see that it was completely healed. Not even a scar was left, the only sign there was that he had been injured was the dried blood on his lips and stomach.

"Where's Bailey?" Theo asked desperately when he saw I was on my own. "Didn't the coin work?"

I didn't know what to say. How could I tell Theo that the coin had worked, but had save him instead of Bailey?


	12. The Guilt and Hope

**Theo**

After the hunters crashed into the kitchen the battle was pretty much over. It didn't take long for Alex and his companions to realise the best thing for them to do was retreat. I figured in the end they would run away, however I didn't expect them to grab Bailey on the way out.

All it took was a weak groan from my injured friend to distract me, without even thinking I turned my attention towards Bailey. Unfortunately Alex took the opening and sliced into my side with his sword.

Everything happened so fast after that, Alex scoping Bailey into his arms and me telling Emma to use her coin. Next thing I remembered was waking up on my kitchen floor covered in blood with three teenage girls looking on at me.

"Where's Bailey?" I asked when I sat up and saw Emma was on her own. "Didn't the coin work?"

"No it did," Emma replied her voice filled with sadness.

"So where is Bailey then?" I questioned. I leant against the table for balance as I stood up.

"Theo, the coin didn't save Bailey, it save you." Emma was looking at the ground, I could tell she was close to tears.

I didn't know what to say. Why had I been the one that was save and not Bailey, he was the one who was in danger not me.

Emma looked up at me, tears slowly falling down her cheeks. She was trying to hold it in but it wasn't working. She had no idea what was going on and after the warning Mr D had given us about what would happen if any harm came to his son, I didn't blame her for crying.

To be honest I didn't have a clue as to what was going on myself. The more I thought about it, the more I was definite that they were the same people who had killed my mom and brother eight years ago. But it still didn't explain why they were after me, or why they had taken Bailey.

After a few minutes of silence Thalia was the first to speak. "Georgia can you and the girls keep look out." A dark haired girl nodded and left the room with the two other hunters.

Once the hunters were outside Thalia turned to Emma and I. "So why are you even here?" she asked crossing her arms.

"We're looking for some missing campers, they went on a quest three months back and no one has heard from them. We came to Alabama because one of the lines in the prophecy lead us here." Emma replied, still trying to hold back tears.

"Which line?" Thalia questioned.

"_With lost friends found at burning rocks._" Emma obviously had memorised the prophecy. "Although I couldn't find the rocks." Emma looked at me questioningly, silently asking why she didn't find them. She looked kind off intimidating, her light brown hair was messy and falling out of the pony tail but her stormy grey eyes were intense.

"The thing about the burning rocks was a lie," I confessed, "they are real but are about two miles away and are probably not what the prophecy is talking about."

"Then why did you bring us here?" Emma asked, there was a slight tone of anger in her voice.

"I needed to get something," I replied.

"What?" The anger I had heard a second ago was gone, Emma now just sounded curious.

I knew I had to show them the sketch book, even if I didn't particularly want Thalia to see it. Slowly I walked over to my bag which was lying on the floor with my bow and arrows and Bailey's sword. "This," I said as I pulled out the sketch book.

"Are you serious?!" it was Thalia who yelled, she was furious. "You came here so you could find a scrappy old book. If you hadn't have come here those guys wouldn't have taken Bailey!"

That's when the guilt hit me. She was right, if we hadn't come to my old home then Bailey might not have been taken. If we hadn't have split up then he definitely wouldn't have. It was my fault, I was the one who burnt Bailey so bad it made him too weak to fight, and I was the one that got distracted which meant Alex had the opening to take him.

However I wasn't going to let Thalia see how bad I felt about it. I got the sense she didn't like me and it wasn't just because I had let Bailey get kidnapped.

"I didn't have a choice!" I yelled back at Thalia.

"What do you mean? Why is that book so important?" Thalia seem to calm down a little, but only slightly.

"I don't know," it wasn't a lie, "but my father told me to come here and get it. I can't defy a god."

"And who is your dad?" Thalia asked, still sounding annoyed.

"Apollo."

Thalia didn't say anything after that but I'm pretty sure I saw her blushing when I mentioned my father's name, I didn't understand why.

Again we stood in silence for a while, the three of us all caught up in our thoughts.

"So how are we going to get Bailey back then?" Emma asked obviously having had enough of the silence.

It was a good question. How were we going to get him back? They had flown off in a chariot so there was no way to track them. Demigods didn't have cell phones meaning we couldn't track them like mortals would either. The situation seemed hopeless.

Not knowing what to do I opened the sketch book in my hand, maybe mom had drawn something that would help us figure out where Bailey was.

As I flipped through the pages I saw many events that I recognised. Riley and I fighting a Cyclopes when we were on the run together. Various ones of Paige, Riley and I at camp and on the quest we went on together when I was twelve. Seeing the sketches of the three of us made me sad. Paige and Riley were my best friends, I missed them so much. Life at camp wasn't the same without them. Holding back my tears for my two best friends I continued to look through the pages.

I was starting to think that looking through the book was pointless as I came to the end of it. But when I turned to the last page I found what I was looking for. Or at least what I thought I was looking for.

It was of Bailey, who thankfully was alive. He was walking past what looked like an abandoned hotel with the five demigods that took him. All of them were looking in different directions, with their weapons drawn, like they had just heard something. Bailey was looking out of the picture, like he was staring straight at me, asking for us to save him. He also had a sword, but it wasn't his, his was laying on the floor in my kitchen.

The picture was very detailed. I could see that they were in a sandy street, and that it was windy. I could also see the sign on the Hotel, Sandy Lane Hotel and Restaurant.

I touched the page, hoping maybe I would get another vision that would help us even more. I didn't but it didn't matter, all I had to do was find out where this hotel was and we could find Bailey.

"Thank you mom," I whispered to myself.

I closed the book and put it back into my bag for safe keeping. I looked up to see Emma and Thalia in quiet conversation with each other.

"Hey," I said, trying get their attention. It worked, both girls turned to look at me. "I know where Bailey is."

"You do?" Emma asked curious.

"Well sort of, I don't suppose either of you know where the Sandy Lane Hotel and Restaurant is do you?"

"I do," Thalia replied, "it's in a small abandoned town in Utah. The hunters and I passed through it one time, it gave us all the creeps. It felt like someone was watching us the whole time, yet nothing attacked."

"Well that's where we need to go," I said a smile creeping on to my face. Maybe Emma's coin hadn't just saved me, it was definitely luckily that Thalia knew where to go.

"How do you know where he is?" Emma quizzed.

"I'll explain later," I said, "right now we need to get moving, the quicker we get there the better."  
With that we didn't waste any more time, after grabbing by bow and arrows the three of us sprinted out of the house. I was definitely recovered from my wound.

As we ran past the other three hunters the one called Georgia called after us. "Thalia where are you going?"

"To save Bailey," Thalia yelled back, she didn't stop running. "You three go back to the others and continue with the mission lady Artemis set, I'll catch up once we've found Bailey."

With Thalia leading the the three of us sprinted down the street. We were going to find him, I knew it. The sketch of Bailey, the darker haired boy Scott and I hadn't happened yet. That meant we must find him.


	13. The Start of the Journey

**Bailey**

I woke up to a shearing pain in my left shoulder and two teenage boys standing over me, both of them only several inches away from my face.

I recognised the younger of the two. Justin Ross, son of Hecate, he had been with Alex the first time they took me. He was a year older than me and although he looked nice he wasn't, he had a nasty streak almost as bad as Alex's.

As I sat up both boys stepped away but didn't take their eyes of me.

I looked around to see that I was in a small room. There wasn't much to it, just a rickety old bed that I was laying on, a chest of draws next to a window and a wooden chair next to the bed. A bare light bulb hung from the ceiling but wasn't switched on, the only light came through the cracks in the boarded up window.

I felt a sudden chill and looked down to see that I didn't have my top on. However my shoulder, chest and wrist were wrapped in clean bandages.

"Hey Finn," Justin yelled turning his head towards the closed door, "he's awake."

"You know, he probably can't hear you." It was the older boy I didn't know who had spoken. He was looking at me still, a massive grin on his face.

"Shut up," Justin replied his voice sounding annoyed. "Finn!" He yelled again, this time louder.

"What did I say?" The older boy teased, turning to look at Justin who was by the door.

Justin sighed, "I'm going to have to go get him, you stay here and make sure Bailey doesn't try to escape." He was talking like I wasn't even in the room.

Before the older boy could reply Justin left the room, slamming the door and shouting Finn's name as he walked way.

They boy turned back to look at me, a smile still on his face. "So how are you feeling?" He asked.

_I've just been burnt, stabbed and kidnapped how do you think I feel?_ I didn't say what I was thinking, I didn't say anything.

The two of us sat in silence for a while until the boy started talking again. "Does your shoulder hurt?"

"Who are you?" I didn't want to answer his question, I thought it was kind off obvious it hurt considering I'd just been stabbed.

"Haidyn Tavares," the boy held out his hand for me to shake, which I did. "Son of Hades," he continued, a massive smile still on his face.

"Where are we?" I asked looking over to the boarded up window. From the light coming through I could tell it was still day time but not where I was or the time of day.

"Sorry but I can't tell you that," the smile fell from Haidyn's face.

Before I could ask anymore questions the door bust open and Finn strode into the room. He looked the same as I remembered him, tall, light tan, brown hair tied back and dark eyes. At twenty five Finn was the oldest of the group who had taken me, he was also the nicest, but it still didn't mean he wouldn't kill me in an instant if Alex told him to.

With his thumb Finn pointed to the door, signalling Haidyn to leave. When he had gone Finn pulled some grey material out from the back pocket of his jeans and threw it at me.

"Glad to see you're awake little man," he said as the material landed gently on my lap. I picked it up to see it was a clean T-shit. "It'll be a bit big," Finn continued as he leant against the bed post, "But that's your fault for being so small and skinny."

"Thanks," I replied quietly as I pulled the shirt over my head. Finn was right, it was huge on me but it was better than nothing.

"I hope your feeling better, orders were that as soon as you woke up we were to follow." Finn moved away from the bed and towards the door, the floor boards creaking under his weight.

"Follow?" I questioned as I swung my legs off the bed. My feet hit my shoes as I slowly stood up. I'd figured out we were leaving so I put them on quickly.

Finn chuckled, "I see you still have your accent." I stared at him, waiting for an answer to my question. "Sorry buddy I'm not allowed to tell you anything," he continued whilst gesturing for me to leave.

Once I had done my laces up I did what I was told and left the room. I found myself in a small hallway that wasn't unlike the room I had just been in, it had the same creaky wooden floor and wallpaper peeling of the walls.

Finn put his hand on my right shoulder and guided me quickly through the building to the front door. He gently pushed me outside into the hot sun before reaching back into the building and grabbing the sword and backpack that were by the door.

"Here, you might need this?" Finn handed me the celestial bronze sword he just grabbed before closing the door and locking it. I was surprised that he trusted me with a weapon, he obviously didn't think I was much of a threat.

Silently we stood outside the door for a few minutes, the whole time I studied the surroundings, looking for an escape. We were in the middle of nowhere, trees surrounded the building and the ground was dry and dusty. A dirt track lead away from the building but I couldn't see where it lead to.

I didn't understand why we were waiting until Justin and Haidyn walked round the side of the building, both of them with a backpack and their weapons.

Without saying a word Finn started walking down the dirt track, Haidyn ran to catch up with him.

I thought for a moment about trying to run, but before I could Justin gabbed my shoulder and leant down so his head was level with mine. "Don't even think about running," he said, holding his sword in front of my face. "Now get moving," he pushed me forwards making me stumble.

Once I was balanced again I turned to look at Justin, he had a menacing grin on his face. I wasn't scared of him, not like I had been before. Justin wasn't threatening or scary just mean. Without realising it I had started to point the sword at Justin. The smile on his face dropped, replaced with confusion. He didn't expect me to go against him.

"Hey you two, come on," it was Finn who was yelling at us. I did as I was told and started to follow Finn and Haidyn, ignoring Justin.

As we walked I saw there wasn't much to the landscape, about a mile down the track we had come out of the trees and I found myself in a dry, barren landscape. The track kept going into the distance, I couldn't see the end. It was obvious we were going to be doing a lot of walking.

After walking in silence for almost three hours Finn stopped and looked up to the sky. Haidyn did the same, only looking a bit more confused. Justin kept his eyes trained on me.

"Four more hours," Finn said as he started to walk again.

"Until what?" Haidyn said jogging to catch up with Finn. I quickened my pace a little as well, wanting to hear what was happening in four hours.

"Until Alex and Lily meet us." Finn pulled a water bottle out of his backpack and began to drink.

"What happens then?" Haidyn asked. It seemed to me that he had no idea what was going on just like me. I didn't understand why.

It was Justin who answered Haidyn's question. "Bailey here gets to learn his fate," a huge smile had crept onto Justin's face again.

Haidyn and I both froze, the hot sun beating down on us. What on earth did he mean by I was going to learn my fate.


End file.
